As expected, Natsu was not pleased with Zeref's response. "No way in hell am I letting you do that." Flames were dancing by his fists as he took a step closer to the black wizard. "Gray is a member of my guild and he's your friend. There's no way I'd let anyone intentionally kill him! No matter who you are, you can't guarantee he'll still be the same even if you can bring him back from that!"

He knew that better than anyone else.

Wh-where am I? Where's Mom and Dad? Gone, just like everyone else.

Zeref, you bastard! You took me away from them! If it wasn't for you, I'd— Inhaling sharply, Zeref shook his head to shake off the old memories. "That doesn't matter." He had learned that there were some things that this magic just couldn't perfect. Personalities could be reshaped to the best of one's memories of the other person and their old memories could even retrieved from beyond the grave, but the end result of combining the two was a best guess. Natsu had been close, but a far angrier and rasher person than the brother he'd remembered. Perhaps that was simply due to the added features in his book that Zeref hadn't been able to stop himself from adding. The draw of a creation that might surpass his immortality had been too strong, back when he'd first been thrown into this chaotic existence.

"Doesn't matter? You think Gray's life doesn't matter?"

He didn't even bother dodging the flaming punch that came. Zeref felt the heat of that fire slam into his side, throwing him into the controls. Irene moved, grabbing the dragon slayer before he could attack again. Seeing her, Zeref shook his head. "Let him go." The enchantress met his gaze, slowly releasing the dragon slayer. "As I said, I will attempt other methods first. I simply wanted to warn you that you would not be able to stop me if I arrive at the same conclusion I came to years ago with Irene."

"That was then. This is now - you're gonna have more than two people looking into this. Fairy Tail has plenty of smart people around to figure out stuff like this if we need to."

Even then, they weren't scholars or researchers. The most he could rely on was something like Makarov or Levy having heard some small rumor - even they were not the sort of person to go around creating experimental magics that bordered on being illegal, if not fully crossing that line. "You can't stop me," Zeref repeated. Looking over, he met Natsu's eyes calmly. "Unless you find the means to kill me, no one in your guild would be capable of it."

The dragon slayer met his eyes, slowly closing his hands into fists. "That's all you know how to work with, isn't it?" Natsu stepped forward, the flames on his hands actually going out as he approached. "You did it with Gray and now you're doing the same with me. All you can think to do is use threats to manipulate others into doing what you want - threaten Gray for iced shell and now threaten him again to—"

"That is not my intention!" Zeref snapped, his eyes flashing as he took a step closer. "Do you think I want to kill him? How many times to I have to repeat the same thing to the people on your team for you to grasp the concept?" Taking a deep breath, Zeref took a step back. This anger wasn't for Natsu - it was for whichever idiotic general of his decided to suppress Gray's magic in the first place. It was for himself, for triggering the circumstances that allowed for this to even be a possible outcome. "Not wanting to do something and not being willing to do it are very different things." He looked over at Natsu calmly, taking another deep breath. "I do not want to kill Gray." The admission triggered a stirring in him and a throb in his head. He moved on quickly, before the curse could latch onto any real meaning behind the words. "But I will kill him if it stops him from becoming the very thing that destroyed his family twice."

"We're finding another way." Natsu stared at him, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. "You're not gonna even think about making a move like that until we've all agreed there's no other option."

"Natsu—"

"Promise me that much." Natsu met his eyes. "As my brother, as part of my family, promise you aren't going to just decide one of my best friends needs to die because you can't think of another option right at this moment." He stepped closer. "Promise me that you'll at least give us a chance to pull him back from this, even if we don't understand the magic you created or even what's making him act like this. Because if you don't, I will never be able to forgive you and I really want to have a chance to get to know my real brother again."

The ache was still there, trying to push back against the numbness that came with the certainty of what would need to be done. Natsu always brought it back, an odd pain Zeref couldn't help but label as a form of homesickness. Swallowing, Zeref slowly found himself nodding. "Very well." He met Natsu's gaze calmly. "But in return, I want you to promise that you will not stop me, if you do come to the realization that we have no other options."

Slowly, the dragon slayer nodded. "We'll find another option, so it doesn't matter what back-up plan you might have."

With that, Zeref felt his exhaustion start to return with little warning. He pressed a hand to his forehead, letting himself lean against the control panel for a brief moment. "Is everything alright, your majesty?" Irene frowned at his actions.

Zeref let his hand drop to his side. "It is fine, Irene." He still had no idea what exactly differed from the other spell and iced shell, but it seemed like it truly had drained nearly all of his magic. "This is simply some lingering…side-effects, I suppose. Or perhaps I simply was overextending myself."

"On what? Please tell me you actually have a decent explanation for refusing to respond to our reports for the last seven years." Irene folded her arms over her chest. "Invel is ready to murder you for that, you know. If you don't have something to tell him…"

"I'm aware." He paused, frowning for a moment. "Acnologia is dead." Out of all of the generals, Irene was the one that deserved to hear that more than anyone else. "It may not excuse my silence, but I do believe we can label that as quite the accomplishment."

The enchantress stared at him in silence. After a moment, she slowly nodded. "Well, you'll have to tell me the story of how you succeeded sometime then."

Natsu blinked at them as well, before slowly grinning. "Wait, it actually worked?" Zeref didn't get the chance to answer before the dragon slayer was rushing over, throwing an arm around his shoulders like they hadn't just been arguing moments ago. Flinching away from the contact, Zeref put a few steps of space between them. Natsu didn't make another attempt to touch him, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ah, sorry. Didn't think about that, but I was excited. I mean, we've stopped Nirvana and Acnologia's gone. Seems to me like we're on a streak of accomplishing some pretty big things, right?"

"One miracle does not guarantee another." Irene shook her head. "If you knew a thing about what you were approaching, you'd know better than to be so optimistic."

"Why do you have a problem with that? Having hope for the future is how people stay motivated to move forward you know."

The enchantress looked at him and Zeref found himself slowly stepping between Natsu and her when he saw the analytic look in her eyes. "Irene." He knew she'd switched focuses recently, giving up on reversal. "Do I even have to tell you my warning?"

Meeting his eyes, Irene slowly shook her head and turned away. "No, your majesty. We will always be your last priority, regardless of how much 'kindness' you display for your games." The black wizard stared at the back of her head, uncertain of how to respond. Yet, she still continued on. "As for your brother…he should know that this is a task I've personally spent four hundred years researching. You claimed to be researching a means of ending his majesty's curse. Reversing the final transformation for a slayer is something that may take just was much, if not more, time to reach a solution to."

"Well, then you probably know a ton about it to get us started." Natsu was grinning as if that wasn't a warning about a potential roadblock. "You'll help too, right? I mean, if you've been looking that long, I imagine you want the answer for some reason."

After a moment, Irene turned and stared at him again. She smiled briefly, chuckling and shaking her head. "Ah, you're almost as foolish as I was when I started." She inhaled slowly, looking at Zeref with a raised eyebrow. "Exactly how involved with us are you intending to allow them to get?"

As one of the few generals aware of his plans to potentially take Fairy Heart, Irene's question held a meaning Zeref could clearly understand. "As involved as they have to be." He folded his arms over his chest. "I will deal with the repercussions if I must. This takes priority."

Nodding, Irene turned towards Natsu. "Well, in that case, I suppose you should first know that I am also a dragon slayer." Natsu stared at her, looking a bit confused. "However, unlike you, I have already transformed. No one was around to try and prevent it from happening. It is only thanks to his majesty's skill that I'm even able to wear the skin of a human being, though it is almost as fake as the illusions your first guild master uses."

"She's spent the last four centuries searching for a way to truly return to her former self." Zeref looked over at Natsu calmly. "I've assisted on some occasions, in return for her service to me. As she's stated, this task may be a complicated matter to explore."

"Don't underestimate Fairy Tail." Natsu grinned at him. "I'll tell the others what we're working on now. There's no way any of them would abandon Gray either, even if the rest of the guild will be busy rebuilding after all of this."

So, it seemed as if they'd be returning to Alvarez with him. "Go retrieve the others then." Natsu began to head out, aware of the location of the lacrima to teleport down to the ground. He'd bring them back up to the deck when he sensed their team approaching. Zeref looked over at Irene once he was gone. "Who all is here?"

"Dimaria, August, and Invel," Irene answered. "August and Dimaria are assisting the others in confirming that Nirvana did not have any long-lasting effects on the wizards it had converted. From my understanding, Fiore's government had fallen under their control and was only just released. One of those three might be remaining behind to re-negotiate trade agreements and potential alliances for the future. At the very least, we need to ensure they do not interpret our presence as an act of war against their actual government."

"I see." He looked over at Gray, gauging his current level of calmness. It likely wasn't going to be improving, he supposed. "Who was the one that determined Gray needed his magic restrained?"

"You'd have to ask the others." Irene shook her head. "They'd already had him in the cuffs by the time I arrived."

Nodding, Zeref met her gaze calmly. "Call them back to the ship then." He debated for a moment, before adding more. "No, tell August to bring them here. I want to ensure I can deal with this before Natsu returns."

The enchantress caught the look in his eyes, likely seeing the carefully controlled anger finding a way to express itself despite his best attempts at maintaining a calm facade. "Of course. I will call them immediately." With that, she left him alone in the room with the frozen man and Gray. In the silence, Zeref allowed himself a moment to rest. He slowly sank down onto the floor, folding his legs and closing his eyes. In an attempt to avoid useless thoughts that would only agitate him further, Zeref tried to empty his mind through meditation.

When Irene did return, she was followed by the rest of the generals that she'd said were in the area. Zeref opened his eyes as he heard their footsteps enter the room, seeing Invel and August both wearing similar expressions of relief. Dimaria only offered a grin, folding her arms over her chest and leaning against the far wall after giving him a nod in greeting.

"Your majesty." August bowed slightly in greeting. "I am relieved to see you are well." His eyes flickered over, seeing Gray on the ground. The elderly man frowned, already seeing the spell Irene had cast. "An enchanted sleep? I…I may have assumed incorrectly, but I was under the impression that he was a close comrade of yours."

Then it wasn't August. Zeref knew the man followed his heart more than logic when he was able to do so. He wouldn't act against Gray if that was his impression thus far. "He is." Zeref offered no further explanation, turning towards the others. "Which one of you decided he needed to be restrained?" The tone of his voice was cold, a harshness leaking into it that Zeref rarely allowed himself to feel. It bordered on the uncaring reactions he feared falling into, knowing that it would easily lead towards him simply forgetting that forgiveness and showing mercy were also options.

The room was quiet in response to his tone, until he started to rise to his feet to make his demand more clear. "I did, your majesty." Invel spoke, kneeling in front of him and lowering his head. "It was for the sake of the empire. Please understand we had every reason to believe you had been killed—"

"You think my death warrants such a reaction?" Zeref approached Invel, feeling the burning rage grow. This was the other person responsible for their situation, the one that had accelerated an issue Zeref could have addressed if he'd been given time. Before the transformation happened, there would be more options just as there was with Natsu and the other dragon slayers. Now, he was confident that Irene's expertise in the field was correct. There was no going back from this, even if he was foolishly going to attempt to find the impossible yet again.

"Of course it would! Your murderer deserves to be brought to justice for—" Invel's voice was cut off as Zeref grabbed the man and threw him against the wall to his left. Pinned there, Invel did not resist as Zeref narrowed his eyes at the foolish idiot who'd thought there was any worth to Zeref's existence. "Your majesty…I assure you, this was not intended to be a betrayal—"

"You did this!" Zeref's free hand gestured blindly behind him towards the direction Gray had to be in. "If it weren't for you, he would not be trapped on the verge of a full—" Breaking off his words, Zeref closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. This wasn't the time to be emotional. He was with his generals, the pawns of his empire that were nothing more than tools to use as he needed. "Give me one time, one instance, that my orders could have possibly justified your actions, Invel. When did I ever give you the impression that I wanted to live on? When did I ever make you believe that my existence held enough meaning to destroy the life of another?"

"I don't understand." Invel was frowning, sweat beading on his skin as he remained in Zeref's grip. If the black wizard had the energy to spare, he may have considered using magic to hold him in place, but he might need it for Invel's rapidly approaching execution instead. "You are our emperor, a central and vital piece to our nation. Alvarez needs you to continue on - that alone gives your existence meaning."

"No, it does not." Zeref's grip tightened, making Invel choke. "That, Invel, is the wrong answer. I—"

"Your majesty." August's voice cut through calmly from behind him. "Your anger is justified, but I will ask that you consider our current state before acting rashly. We've already lost Larcade and Bloodman - our ranks are spread thin without them and you have not been around to replace them."

Frowning, Zeref turned towards August but didn't quite release the winter general. "Who is responsible for this? I never heard anything of their deaths, or their defection if they simply abandoned their position."

"It's why these idiots thought you were dead." Dimaria answered for him. "As far as we could tell, all of your demons other than Natsu died seven years ago. Invel may have been stupid to think your 'friend' killed you, but the ice mage was also stupid enough to admit he tried to attack you with the very spell you thought could accomplish the job."

Of course Gray would admit such a thing openly. Zeref hadn't been able to warn him of anything. Really, he'd thought Invel was best due to the expertise in ice magic for that contact. All of this…perhaps it was his own fault yet again. The more understanding of his generals should have been relied on, pushing Gray towards August instead. At least then, he would be listened to with reason and understanding, rather than the distrust Invel usually started with when dealing with strangers.

Slowly, Zeref released Invel and took a step back. The winter general pressed a hand to the base of his throat where Zeref's hand had been, rubbing his skin as he took a few deep breaths. "What exactly are you even trying to accuse me of, your majesty?" The ice mage was likely one of the few who would ask such a question of him after the situation he'd just been in. "I've done nothing beyond follow protocol for restraining a potentially dangerous threat to the empire, even if you have now clarified that he was not as dangerous as we thought."

Looking over at Irene, Zeref stayed silent. She met his eyes, offering no forgiveness or comfort in her stern gaze. Then, he lowered his gaze and closed his eyes into fists at his side. "That was my mistake. I apologize, but I think a part of me just needed a way to shift the blame elsewhere."

Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Gray and knelt down next to him. This was the closest he'd gotten since handing the boy off to Natsu, still uncertain of the limits of the pendant he'd once worn. Now, it was more so a question of what demonic traits he'd inherited to protect him instead. "Gray was one of two devil slayers in existence. Sealing off his source of magical energy, following 'protocol' as you say, triggered a rapid onset of the final transformation that comes with that style of magic." Keeping his distance, Zeref refused to even risk touching the boy, simply watching for now. "I don't even know how far along he is now that Irene has placed him into this state. All I can say is that he is a new form of demon, or on the verge of becoming one."

"Devil Slayer magic?" Invel frowned. "He never indicated such a thing. All he—" The winter general broke off, his eyes widening. "This is what he was afraid of letting out. Our suppression enchantments would not have suppressed such an ability, would it?"

"Not in the slightest." Zeref chuckled darkly. "If anything, you enhanced it and brought it to the surface. Before now, I want to say Gray could hardly activate it enough to freeze the ground beneath his feet." Meeting Invel's gaze, Zeref let his smile grow. "Yet just moments ago, I had full confidence that he may have been the first demon I've encountered to have an approach to truly kill me. If I hadn't intervened, you truly would have found my body here instead."

"You've said that about every new idea you get for death, old man." Dimaria rolled her eyes. "Face it, none of them work no matter what you think."

"Perhaps." Zeref moved back, sitting on the ground now that his anger was fading. Really, it had been misplaced from the start. "What I do know is that it was powerful enough to destroy a supposedly unbreakable form of ice magic that even I couldn't comprehend."

"He broke that spell?" August spoke, his eyes wide. "When we spoke, he claimed he had trapped you. Seeing you here, I could only assume that was incorrect or that you'd managed to free yourself…" The elderly man trailed off.

Shaking his head, Zeref closed his eyes. "I was trapped." Then, Gray had appeared in that surprising form. Zeref had been unable to move as he watched his pointless efforts to blindly lash out at the spell. Even curse power had been ineffective, as it had been clear that an instinctual learning curve had been built into whatever transformation was building in the wizard. Yet, that realization had only given him enough time to make a rapid plan for what to do when he was free. "Despite having all the time in the world to contemplate how to reverse the spell, it was beyond me to even see how it differed from iced shell. When the reversal for iced shell failed, I was quick to realize something had gone wrong."

"He didn't cast iced shell." Invel frowned, staring at the unconscious ice mage. "August had him demonstrate the spell for us, in an attempt to gain information. It was immune to his abilities, your majesty, just like the spell I reached out to you on when I initially began my research into iced shell."

"Your theory is that he was able to mirror that spell instead?" Invel nodded and Zeref tilted his head. "Interesting." Then was it just a misplaced rune in the magic circle for iced shell? Zeref supposed that could create a subtle alteration in the results, depending on the substitution he made.

"We never found an answer as to what that spell was, your majesty." August was quiet. "I was under the impression that you would not be freed easily, based on the number of cases we've since found."

"How many more?" He hadn't heard of their continued research. Maybe he should have visited, but he'd been too focused on his own personal goals to feel motivated to do so.

"An entire city to the north, made completely of ice with the same property of being immune to August's talents." Invel adjusted his glasses. "Dimaria joined and was able to confirm that there is some element of time magic involved in this variant, but even with her, we could not determine the exact role it played."

He nodded, before turning back to Gray. This conversation, this spell, it was all just one large distraction. "Then I suppose it is a matter to research at a later date." Before Invel could object, Zeref looked up at the others. "We will be returning along with some of the wizards of Fairy Tail. My primary focus will be researching Gray's current status and finding the means of fully reversing the transformation that has started."

"Will you at least be bringing Larcade and Bloodman back to alleviate some of the stress we've been under?" Invel folded his arms behind his back. "There is more work to handle than you seem to realize."

The fact that they'd vanished should have been enough of an indicator that Gray's spell had done something unusual. Somehow, it had severed the subtle connection between him and his demons. That link didn't even draw on a wizard's typical source of magical energy. Instead, it drew on the energy that flowed throughout the body in the bloodstream. Ironically, it was when a wizard accidentally drew too much from that source of ethernano for a spell that Magical Deficiency Syndrome was triggered, proving that suppression needed to be done carefully to avoid triggering such an illness.

Still, Invel's point was valid. "Consider it done. I will handle that when we return." Reviving an existing demon would be far simpler than creating a new one at least. Still, that did not change the fact that he needed rest first. "For now, I need to rest. The spell I was trapped in seems to have depleted my energy somehow." He looked over at August. "Natsu will be arriving with companions from his guild soon. Assist them in returning to the airship and then bring us back to Alvarez."

"Of course, your majesty." August nodded, looking over at Invel for a moment. "And thank you, for reconsidering your actions. I am glad we did not have to lose a close comrade of ours today."

Meeting his eyes, Zeref gave the man a nod. "You simply gave me the pause I needed to realize the truth." Looking at Gray, Zeref felt a weight return to his chest that he wished he could find a way to ignore. "I was the one who created demons. If not for me, this magic would not exist." He smiled darkly. "I was the one who offered Gray the means to become a devil slayer. If not for me, he would never have been at risk for this transformation." Looking over at Invel, Zeref's dark eyes met the icy blue gaze of his general. "I was the one who told Gray to contact Invel for assistance. If not for me, he never would have had the means to tell you of his actions and have his magic suppressed for it. No matter how you look at this, I am the one at fault. I am the reason he is in this state and I will make it right."

"Do not carry everything on your shoulders." August smiled at his emperor. "Remember, you are also the reason your brother lives. You are the one that managed to bring peace to the constantly warring nations of Alakitasia. Everyone makes mistakes, but you must remember that you've also done things that help others too."

Nodding, Zeref remained quiet. When the silence continued, the elderly man began to leave him be, taking Invel and Dimaria with him. Irene remained, turning to the controls and letting him stay and enjoy the silence in peace. Maybe August was right in some sense - Zeref had managed to help at times. Yet, more often than not, he was responsible for suffering and destruction. His reputation was well earned and he'd accepted that long ago, often triggered by actions he'd truly believed would benefit the greater good. Perhaps it was time he realized that when trying to help, he always inherently made things far worse than they ever would have been if he'd simply done nothing.